DA Revelations Episode 16: Ma Fille
by AngelExposed
Summary: Rogue and Hank head to Muir Island astounded to discover they have a stowaway onboard the Blackbird. Meanwhile on Muir Island, Remy is battling for his life, his therapy having taken an odd effect.
1. Chapter 1: Drained

DA Revelations

Episode 16 – Ma Fille

Chapter One – Drained

"If he dies, I swear to _God_ that I'll tear every part of that Godforsaken Island apart piece by piece."

It was the first time she had spoken in two hours; the comment had sounded so dramatic and yet, despite that it made her feel better. But it was honest – if Remy LeBeau died on Muir Island thanks to the new regenerative therapy having gone completely wrong, then Rogue knew she would lose it...she would crumble to dust every building on that island, and take it down until there was nothing left but rubble.

"He won't die," said Hank McCoy by her side, ever the picture of calm as he piloted the blackbird jet across the ocean, their destination Scotland, still so many hours away. "He's had rubble fall on him, he's had a hole in his chest...he can survive this. Remy LeBeau is a fighter."

"You realise this is your fault. All your faults. You all wanted him to go for this therapy so bad, even though you _knew _it was still being tested," Rogue frowned.

"You wanted him to go for that therapy just as much as we did."

"I didn't _push_ him into it, though. I didn't keep reiterating the fact that he _needed_ it."

"It was his decision to go, Rogue," said Hank, although something in his expression left Rogue feeling otherwise. What was it the blue furred beast was hiding from her? Why were his eyes so...so guilty?

"That's what he told me too," Rogue adjusted her seatbelt, "but I don't believe it now, Hank. He's a good liar. You, however, are not."

"What could I be lying about? The fact that we all knew his health was failing badly and we wanted him to go get treatment before he deteriorated into an early grave?!" Hank demanded, his voice slightly impatient now.

"You may as well have dug that grave for him," Rogue reached for the control panel and tried to make a video call out to Muir Island. "I'm gonna check in, see if anything has changed..." she informed. The signal failed, and instead only the sound of static crackled. "What the hell is up with this thing – it worked _fine_ yesterday."

"I don't know," said Hank. "Alot of the controls are acting up too and have been for the last twenty minutes or so..."

"Can we make it to Muir Island?"

"I think so," said Hank, he checked the readings on the panel at the left side of the throttle, "it's mainly interference – can you hear it?"

Rogue nodded, there was a noise. "Reminds me of when someone has a cellphone near the controls," she got up. "Did you leave a phone in here?"

"I wasn't the last one in here," said Hank, "Scott maybe did...although I don't think he even carries it with him."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood, "I'll take a look around, see if I can find it."

"Are you _sure_ you didn't bring your cell phone?"

"I'll check," said Rogue. "I was so frantic when I heard about Remy I wasn't even thinking when I tossed stuff into my bag – maybe I did throw it in there...I'll look."

Rogue moved into the back of the blackbird, through the door into the small cargo hold where the spare uniforms, medical supplies, and communicators were kept. It was where she'd dropped her bag before taking her seat in the co-pilots seat. "The sound is louder back here," she called to Hank.

The humming of electricity interference all around her was irritating. Rogue sighed and unzipped her bag, she went to grab for the first thing inside – a plain grey t-shirt – to pull it out to search and she felt something hard beneath.

"Ow!"

Rogue yanked her hand back, squealing in shock. There was something _there_ beneath the fabric...something definitely not the extra pair of jeans she'd packed.

"What is it?" Hank demanded.

"My bag said 'ow'..." Rogue frowned, she pulled the t-shirt out of the bag and tossed it aside to reveal the seven year old inside her bag. "We have a stowaway."

"What?" called Hank.

Rogue frowned and pulled the little girl out of the bag.

"Hi," said Jessie, her face bright red, her eyes large and nervous, her mouth quivering.

"Jessie, what the hell..." Rogue said, then she tried to quickly curb her language and her temper. "What are you doing here?"

"I hid in the bag..." Jessie pointed out.

"I figured that part out..." Rogue sighed, she grabbed the girl's wrist carefully and led her to the front of the jet.

"Jessie..." Hank said in surprise.

"She hid in my bag," Rogue said.

"Strap her into a seat," Hank warned, "struggling to keep the blackbird steady here."

Rogue sighed and led the little girl to the row of seats behind the pilots seat and she put her into one. "I can't believe you did this."

"We have to take her back," Hank said decidedly.

"We don't have _time_, Hank. Remy is dying!"

Jessie's large eyes were wide, and glassy as she stared at Rogue. "I can't let him die."

"There's nothing you can do...you're just a little girl..."

Jessie gave a whine in response.

"Guess we've figured out the cause of the interference," said Hank, frowning as the noise and static became more evident.

"Jessie, you need to get a grip of your powers..." Rogue adjusted the seatbelt and buckled the girl in securely. "Your powers are messing with the plane's controls..."  
"I'm sorry," Jessie said, it came out as a blubber and fresh tears spilled out onto her pink cheeks.

"It's okay..." said Rogue. _No,_ _it's _not _okay. The man I love is dying, and she's playing stowaway games..._

"Mr. LeBeau is going to be okay...right?"

"Yes, he will," said Rogue, a lie that was blatant in the crack in her voice, Jessie caught it, and more tears spilled. The lights in the jet flickered.

"No, no, Jessie. Concentrate on keeping calm – don't get upset...you'll take us all down."

"I'm sorry," the little girl said again, her eyes shut tightly now, her face grimacing as she tried to focus, her breath was becoming fast, and the plane was rattling all around them, tiny jolts of electricity danced down the armrests and into the floor.

"Hank?" Rogue gasped as the plane shook.

"Take the controls," Hank said, "auto pilot is down."

Rogue rushed to take the controls as he unbuckled his belt and stumbled unsteadily in the shaking plane to Jessie's seat. He knelt beside it and he put both his large hands upon hers, clamping them tightly to the armrests.

"Okay, Jessie. Take a deep, deep breath. Big as you can, get as much air in your little lungs as you can manage..." Hank said gently, watching as the girl did as she was told.

Rogue pulled hard on the throttle. "Hank, we're going down..."

"Ssh," Hank warned Rogue. "Okay, Jessie, now hold that breath in, try to focus on that breath inside you, try to picture it moving..."

Jessie's eyes were tightly shut.

"Now let it out; imagine you're outside in the cold and you can see your breath and it's misting in the air like a big cloud of smoke..."

The plane shook again, slightly less violently this time. "Hank, she's draining power from the jet!" Rogue cried; the lights dimmed out permanently surge them into near darkness other than the back up emergency lights that barely lit the cockpit.

"In, and out, in and out, nice and slow..." Hank said softly, he glanced down at her hands, he felt the energy coming from her, it was making his fur stand on end. "That's it," Hank said softly.

"Haaaaaaaaaaank!!!!" Rogue was holding hard onto the throttle, the whole plane was shaking violently, plunging quickly towards the water. "Hank if you don't do something too we're gonna have to jump out!"

"Now..." he picked up Jessie's tiny hand and placed it gently upon the wall, "I want you to picture your power in a solid form...like a ball of blue light...can you do that?"

"Uh huh..." Jessie whimpered, she bit into her lip.

"Okay, now imagine that ball of light is slowly going into the wall, sinking into it, as if it's melting into the wall...imagine it sinking into the wires behind the wall...imagine that power heading towards the engines, the controls, imagine the whole jet coming alive as you power it..."

The tiny veins on Jessie's hands lit up, and he could see the small balls of light travelling down them into the wall, disappearing entirely. He could hear the plane powering up, the lights brightened, and it jolted as Rogue managed to pull the throttle up just in time to stop the nose of the jet from plunging into the ocean.

Rogue was breathing hard. "Jesus...that was close..."

"No kidding," Hank said. He glanced at Jessie, her eyes were closed, she was breathing softly, her head slumped to the side. "She's drained herself completely – out like a light..." he picked up the little girl's wrist and checked her pulse, "pulse is strong...and her breathing is regular..."

"How did she manage to drain the energy out of the jet without _touching_ anything?" Rogue demanded.

"I'm not sure...we can worry about that later."

"We need to call the Professor and let him know where she is – by now someone will have probably noticed she's gone and be frantic..."

Hank stroked Jessie's hair tenderly. "Poor kid."

"Poor kid? Poor _us_, Hank! She nearly took us to a watery grave..."

"You just don't get this, Rogue..." Hank sighed.

"What don't I get?" Rogue demanded.

"That Jessie loves Remy just as much as _you_ do."


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival

Chapter Two – Arrival

Rogue was still shaken when they finally landed the Blackbird on the field near the Muir Island research centre. The island was even snowier than Bayville and as she climbed down the steps onto land, her feet and ankles disappeared in the thick crisp virgin snow. For the first time in several years, the ground felt odd beneath her feet, and she felt unsteady.

"Looks like they've had some bad weather," said Hank, he had Jessie in his arms, wrapped in his jacket, which on the little girl was so oversized it drowned her almost completely.

"No kidding," Rogue said, the snow crunched as she waded and stepped through it, she heard Hank following behind her. The wind howled around them, biting Rogue's face and whipping her hair violently around her face as she approached the research centre. Through the glass doors, she saw Moira MacTaggart standing by the reception desk talking to a girl who worked there. Moira seemed almost glad to see Rogue and Hank, and rushed to open the locked door from the inside as they arrived.

"Moira, it's good to see you," said Hank, with his free hand – the other holding onto Jessie - he placed a hand on Moira's shoulder and squeezed gently, "even if it is under unfortunate circumstances," he sighed.

Rogue stared at Moira, she could tell by the dark circles under Moira's eyes that it had been quite a while since the woman had slept, and judging by the condition of her hair, perhaps been a while since she'd groomed herself too; her white lab coat was spotless, but beneath, Rogue was sure she could see splatters of blood on the dark blue blouse the woman was wearing.

"How is he?" Rogue asked, her voice cracked with emotion as she spoke.

"His condition has worsened," sighed Moira. "We've been working all night to try to stabilise him, but his health is rapidly declining."

"I want to see him," Rogue said firmly.

"Of course...this way," Moira inclined her head towards a hallway, and started walking; Rogue and Hank curtly followed.

"Is that..." Moira glanced over her shoulder towards Hank, and she gestured towards the little girl sleeping soundly in his arms.

"Yes," Hank replied. "Jessie...our youngest student."

"Ah," said Moira, she frowned a little as if she was confused about something.

Rogue glanced between both Moira and Hank as they walked; why did it seem as if they were both leaving something unsaid?

"I want to know what happened," Rogue stated; whatever it was that the two weren't saying, there was time for it later. Right now, Remy was all she really was worried about.

"We're still trying to piece together the answers, too, Rogue," Moira yawned; she tried to stifle it quite unsuccessfully by using the back of her sleeve. "I'm sorry. I haven't slept."

"Start from the beginning," Rogue insisted.

Moira led the way to double doors, and ran her identification card through the card reader on the panel on the wall; the doors opened for them and the three continued through a winding hall that seemed to be inclining downwards. "He was fine yesterday morning; he was looking better, healing. Then we put him into the RGT Chamber. The new power source we had added broke down midway through his session and he was trapped in the chamber. When we got him out, he seemed fine...just tired..."

"But then?" Hank asked.

"I went to check on him in his room and he was in pain – an immense lot of pain. And when I checked the wound, it was infected...and it shouldn't have been as it had almost completely healed over, infection should have been incredibly difficult, especially considering the sterile environment he's been staying in," Moira shook her head. "Then it started to get worse...the wound got even bigger...and then..." she stopped at the next door in the passage, and she had to punch in a keycode to let them pass through. "Then, he started complaining of other pains...back pain, mainly..."

"Back pain...but he didn't hurt his...back..." Rogue frowned.

"Not recently," Hank reminded.

"We were aware of that," said Moira, "so we x-rayed him. Years ago he'd shattered his tailbone, broke four ribs and slipped a disc in the explosion down beneath the lab."

"I remember," Rogue nodded. She took a very brief moment to think back; when Remy had returned from that accident he'd been bed-ridden for some time. During that time she'd barely seen him – she'd been spending time with Jared Rickman who she'd then referred to as her boyfriend. She'd barely recognised how much pain Remy had been in – and she'd been unaware of how extensive his injuries had been as he'd only ever claimed he'd hurt his back.

"Well...those injuries _were_ all healed. I checked before I let him enter the chamber for the first time – I did a complete physical on him. Apart from the pieces of shattered tailbone which had shifted and hadn't healed and the gaping hole in his chest, his old injuries were perfectly healed. I can't say that now," Moira sighed. She stopped at a door in the long passage.

"Then what _are _you saying?" Rogue asked.

Moira sighed and opened the door, she gestured for Rogue to step in – she stopped Hank. "I can't let you take the girl in there..." she said, "It would be...traumatic for her to see him like this..."

Hank faltered, then handed Jessie over to Moira gently, trying not to wake her.

Rogue stepped into the room first, tentatively; she heard Hank following her in. What she saw made her gasp out the words,"Oh my God..."


	3. Chapter 3: Broken Body

Chapter Three – Broken Body

There was a large plastic structure in the middle of the room that looked like an incubator – except much larger in structure. Inside, the black and blue wreck barely resembled anything of Remy that Rogue had ever known. Outside of the incubator like contraption, there were tubes linked up to machines and I.V.s and monitors that Rogue wasn't even sure how to read.

Rogue's eyes teared up immediately upon seeing the man she loved now looking corpse like, a living roadmap of pain and suffering.

Remy's eyes were black and swollen, his skin – where there were no bruises – was jaundiced. Beneath the clear plastic of the ventilator over his face, she could see his nose looked broken and blood had clotted around his nostrils, there were wounds, slices and scrapes all over his body, raw skin on his knuckles, near his index finger of his right hand the skin and muscle seemed so worn down she was sure she could see bone.

The largest of his wounds were dressed; she noted the stab wound from years ago had been covered up – it too must have ripped open under the effects of the machine.

"Lord almighty," Hank whispered in horror.

"What have they done to him..." Rogue's tears dribbled down her cheeks and onto the floor.

Hank rushed up to the incubator and placed his hands upon the plastic to lean in and look closer, "those bruises...they look so...so fresh...he looks as if he's just come out a hundred rounds with Mike Tyson and just stood there taking it..."

Rogue sobbed into her hands, "How is he supposed to survive this?!"

"We'll find a way," Hank promised, he turned to Rogue just as she fell into his arms to cry into the front of his Xavier's logo sweatshirt.

"He must be in so much pain..." Rogue cried into Hank's chest.

"No...he's unconscious...and heavily drugged...He can't feel anything right now..." There was a sound of footsteps and they both glanced to the door to see Moira stepping into the room; she no longer had Jessie in her arms. "I hope you don't mind – I asked Sean to take Jessie up to one of the guest rooms – I couldn't let her be here and see Gambit this way."

"It'd break her little heart," Hank said, he stroked Rogue's back gently. "Has he been unconscious long?"

"About nine hours. It's only been the last six hours that he really started to deteriorate. The bruises were coming and going at first – now they've set up residence for now. The nose bleeds came, then the scar on the other side of his chest opened up and started to bleed profusely. A head wound opened up, and he bled out more. We've given him as many transfusions as we could manage – luckily Sean and one of the cleaning staff share his blood type. We've sent a staff member to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh to retrieve more blood..."

"He's jaundiced," Hank noted.

"His kidneys are failing – he went into cardiac arrest not long after I called to advise you all of his condition...I would have called earlier but the terrible weather here shot down our internet, phones and satellite communications. We briefly lost power too."

"He's on dialysis?" Hank asked.

"Yes...and the toll everything is taking on his body is only worsening his condition but there's no alternative. He's prone to infection so we've had to isolate him"

"I want to see the readouts from the RGT chamber from his last few sessions...you can help me go over them and we can try to figure out what went wrong so we can correct it..."

"Yes, of course..." Moira nodded, "I'll go get them," she said, quickly leaving the room.

Rogue moved away from Hank to look at Remy's condition, her knees weakened and she fell to them, her stomach lurched and she heaved but nothing came up.

"We're going to save him," Hank promised, he grabbed onto Rogue's waist and gently pulled her up, "come on, be strong. You need to be strong."

"How can I be strong when I'm seeing him like this, Hank?" Rogue demanded, she swiped angrily at her tears and gestured to Remy's broken body in the plastic chamber, "How can I?!"

"This place has the most advanced medical technology in the world, Rogue. More advanced than we have back at the institute. We will save him – I swear. I'm not giving up and neither should you. So stop crying, pull yourself together and be strong."

"Why?! Why should I be strong?! The man I love is dying! Doesn't that _entitle_ me to be weak?!"

"You need to be strong for Jessie...she's too young to _see _this...and definitely too young to understand. When she wakes up she's going to need someone there to tell her things are okay, regardless of what might be going on down here...she needs _you_, Rogue. Not me."

"Why me?!"

"Because you're the closest to Remy! If you tell her things are all right she'll _trust_ you."

Rogue stared at Remy again, she put her hand to her mouth to stifle the urge to scream; it was so horrifying to look at.

"Now go upstairs and wait with her."

"I can't leave him!" Rogue put both her hands on the large incubator and sobbed broken heartedly.

"You must! You can't be here when we're trying to save him..."

"But--"

"Trust me!" Hank gripped her shoulders and shook her, "if you want me and Moira to save him then you _must_ go upstairs and wait with Jessie. I need complete concentration and time to think...I can't deal with that seeing what this is doing to you, so go!"

Rogue speechlessly stepped away from him; with one last forlorn glance at Remy, she resigned herself to leave the room, and she went upstairs to where they had decided to put Jessie until she awoke.


	4. Chapter 4: Filling a Space

Chapter Four – Filling A Space

Jessie opened her eyes slowly, feeling strangely as if she had just awakened from a very deep and but troubled sleep unlike any she had ever had before. It was strange, that she didn't recognise where she was, and couldn't remember the last things she'd done. As dim morning sunlight filtered through the open blinds on the rather bare looking window, she glanced around the room to see it was stark white, clinical and unfamiliar. Disorientated she rubbed her eyes and tried to take in the room properly, unsure if she was seeing things correctly.

The bed beneath her had a thin mattress, and she could feel the springs beneath her as she sat up confusedly. She felt an arm over her hip and she turned over to see she was not alone.

Rogue was with her in the bed, lying on her side with her back right against the cold wall; her eyes were closed lightly and she appeared to be asleep; her cheeks were flushed but Jessie at once recognised the tacky appearance of tear-stains that had streaked Rogue's makeup, the mascara that had clumped with the wetness.

Jessie had never seen Rogue cry; although Rogue had always seemed to her like a sweet enough person – at least where Mr. LeBeau was concerned – she'd also always seemed somewhat stern and hard, as if she were someone who never cried.

_Of course she cries,_ Jessie thought as she stared at the woman. _She just doesn't cry in front of other people..._

Jessie lay back down and stared at Rogue, memories of sneaking into the plane had all come back, and now she realised where she was. _This must be the Muir Island place they kept talking about_, she reasoned.

Rogue shivered although the room was moderately warm, and finally, her green eyes opened, and Jessie saw the full effect of the smudged mascara around the woman's eyes, making her seem even more distraught and tragic than before.

"Is Mr. LeBeau okay?" Jessie asked in a whisper, not sure why exactly she felt the need to whisper so softly.

Rogue seemed to ponder this, her eyes were tender, but glassy, and glittered with fresh tears, "He'll be fine, sugar..." she promised. She sat up awkwardly and she moved her hair out of her face, she dabbed at her eyes with her gloved fingers to wipe away the smudged mascara, and she sighed.

"He's _not_ okay," Jessie frowned. "You wouldn't be crying if he was."

"I'm just a little stressed is all..." Rogue sighed, "been...a very rough night...the flight...and I'm so tired..."

"No...it's more than that," Jessie said quite astutely. And she could feel it; it was just like feeling it from Mr. LeBeau...deep in her stomach she felt that curdling feeling of wrong that told her Rogue was far more than just stressed.

She'd never seen Rogue's expression so tightly stretched, never had to see her struggle to keep it together quite so much.

"It's okay to be sad," Jessie said. "You're supposed to be sad..."

Jessie didn't understand why adults felt they had to be strong all the time; all this faking being something they weren't. She'd been told herself it was wrong to pretend to be something you aren't so she couldn't understand why adults thought it was so acceptable to do the same. And why did adults always have to try and pretend to be not sad? Was sadness something that they _weren't_ meant to be showing?

"Why do adults have to pretend they're not sad?" Jessie asked in a timid voice, she shifted to sit beside Rogue with her back against the wall; she hugged her knees to her chest and stared down at her two odd socks; she wasn't sure where her sneakers were anymore.

Rogue took some time before answering; a single tear dribbled down her face and she quickly wiped it away. "Adults are supposed to be strong."

"Does that mean being sad is not strong?" Jessie asked. Was that it? Was sadness a sign of weakness? Was being sad giving others the power to hurt you?

"No..." Rogue responded, "sadness isn't weakness...it's just..." she swallowed, "being sad doesn't help anything..." she stared into space, her eyelashes were wet and spiky from tears. "People don't like seeing other people sad..."

Jessie stared into space too, "I don't like people knowing I'm sad," she confessed. "They all act funny, like...being sad means I'm weird..."

Rogue slowly turned to look at her, Jessie felt the soft green eyes penetrating right through her.

"It shouldn't _be_ wrong to be sad," Jessie said quite matter-of-factly, "and it's so stupid that I have to hide being sad because people would think I'm weird. I'm _not _weird. I don't think I'm weird..."

"You're not weird, Jessie. You're normal..."

Rogue looked away again, her eyes were distant. Jessie took this moment to study Rogue's profile. Even with the smudged makeup and the tear stains, even in plain old jogging pants and a wrinkled sweatshirt, even with tangled hair sitting in bad lighting...Rogue was suddenly the most beautiful woman Jessie thought she'd ever seen. Perhaps it was just the sight of that emotion – that emotion because of Mr. LeBeau – that suddenly made her the most beautiful woman in the world.

_It's no wonder Mr. LeBeau likes her so much..._

"I was like you, y'know..." Rogue pulled her knees to her chest now, and hugged them insecurely, she reminded Jessie very briefly of a little girl in the way she did this.

"You were?"

"I was alone...with powers...and no one understood," Rogue pursed her lips for a moment, a tear dribbled down the side of her nose and onto her lip, Jessie watched the journey the tear made until it dribbled from her chin. "I know what it's like to feel like you're an outsider...different from everyone else..."

Jessie wondered if Rogue really did; here she was this beautiful woman who Mr. LeBeau was so undeniably in love with, friends with everyone in the institute, she seemed well liked and loved so much that Jessie found it unbelievable this woman could ever be an outsider. But then Jessie thought of the photograph of Rogue from long ago. Rogue's seventeenth birthday party...taken before Jessie had even been born. The girl in that picture was pale, with an unearthly unusual dark beauty; the body language in the photo, even though that girl in the picture had been happy, was...insecure...and different.

She considered this and she stared at Rogue, and tried to see the girl Rogue had been, and she almost could.

"I didn't have a mom and dad either, Jessie..." Rogue admitted.

Jessie hadn't known this; she hadn't known that Rogue was an orphan too. Suddenly she felt as if she had much more in common with the woman than she had ever thought she could.

"But I had Logan," Rogue sighed, "he took care of me, took me under his wing...cared for me like I was family..."

"Like Mr. LeBeau does with me," Jessie finished for her.

Rogue looked at Jessie, "Before you came along, Jessie, there was an empty space in his heart...a space that had been reserved for his daughter..."

"But she died," Jessie sighed; she often wished Gabrielle had survived. She felt somehow that she and Gabrielle would have been very close friends and would have gotten along quite well. At least, that was how she liked to think it would have been.

"That space...that space was something I could never help fill," Rogue confessed, she looked up to the ceiling as if she were staring up into heaven, "god knows I tried to fill up every space in his heart but couldn't...that space wasn't mine to fill."

Jessie wasn't sure where this was going exactly, but she felt by the tender expression on Rogue's face that it surely couldn't be bad. Gently, Jessie took Rogue's hand in hers, and wound her tiny fingers with Rogue's slim gloved ones.

"But you've filled that space...and since you have...he's been...different..."

"Is that bad?" Jessie asked softly, she let her cheek rest against Rogue's shoulder.

Rogue smiled sadly, "no...it's good. Jessie, you gave him the chance to be something he never got the chance to be...he got to be like a father...even if it's only pretend."

Jessie sighed, "I wish it wasn't pretend..."

"He probably wishes the same," Rogue realised with a soft sigh.

"Is he really going to be okay?" Jessie asked.

"I'm supposed to tell you that he will be," Rogue admitted sheepishly, "But...I don't really know the answer..."

Jessie felt a tear slide down her own face, and she said nothing; she just sat in silence with Rogue, staring at the opposite wall, hoping, just as Rogue did, that Mr. LeBeau would make it through the day.


	5. Chapter 5: Hidden DNA

Chapter Five – Hidden DNA

"I've gone over these print outs a dozen times since Gambit's health started to deteriorate..." said Moira. "I can't believe I would have missed something..."

"I don't _want_ to believe it," Hank admitted, "but you're exhausted, and there may be something that might have been overlooked...any slight change...anything..."

"I've failed...Hank. I thought I could heal him...I thought I could heal people but...I'm not God...and I shouldn't have been playing God with machines and DNA...I've failed with my research and I've failed Gambit."

"You've not failed," Hank said, "for all you know, you did everything right, maybe it was something in Remy's DNA that's caused the fault...who's to know."

"Even if it _is _something in his DNA...it's still something I _should_ have found out. I should have researched more...I should have studied _him_ more before I started the process...I should have just relied on the DNA from those clones..." Moira buried her hands in her hair.

"Don't you start crying on me too," Hank warned. "I need you to be strong – you're the world's leading authority on genetic mutation for crying out loud."

"Exactly," said Moira. "I was so excited on what this research could mean I've obviously overlooked something which will kill Gambit."

"We don't know yet if it's something you've overlooked, Moira. All we can do is examine what we have and try to work out what went wrong...we can worry about repercussions later – _after_ we've done everything we can to help him."

"I'm sorry...I'm just so...frazzled," Moira groaned.

"Hey..." said Hank, suddenly, "this print out here," Hank said, he circled a passage of text with a ring of red ink from the pen he'd borrowed, "it doesn't look quite right here..."

"What doesn't?" Moira asked, she was sipping hot coffee – what she'd revealed to Hank had been her thirteenth cup since last night.

"Can't you see it?" he asked.

"No..."

"Here..." Hank stated. He picked up the piece of paper and rolled the office chair across the lab towards the computers, "lets see here..."

Moira stood up and walked over, her fingers hugging the cup, she blew the steam away from the cup and then took another sip.

Hank loaded up the advanced genetic simulator and typed in the passage of text he'd circled.

"What have you noticed?"

"Something else. I could be wrong – I'm tired too and my eyes may be fooling me..." Hank sighed, he hit the enter key and waited for the program to load the information; he turned to Moira. "The clones filled in the genetic material for your regenerative therapy...right?"

"Yes. I discovered that there was a synthetic addition into the DNA of the clones which is how they were grown biologically. Adding that synthetic addition to any kind of DNA, I noticed not only filled in the missing pieces of whatever was there, but also started to heal up the test subject clones I was using..."

"Your only test subjects were the clones?"

"Yes," said Moira, "we don't do animal testing as animals don't show the same mutations that manifest various powers and abilities in humans...Remy is our first real human-mutant subject...he had to be as it's his DNA we're using to heal him."

"And it was only when your first real mutant test subject began regenerative therapy that it all went wrong," Hank noted. The image on the screen finally loaded, and Hank studied it closely.

"Those clones came from him – he shared the exact same DNA as them, I saw no reason why it shouldn't have worked," Moira remarked. "The eighteen test runs we took on the clones we retrieved from Genosha...they all went as planned. I had no reason to think anything would go wrong when it came to putting Gambit through the process..."

"You missed something...I missed it too," Hank sighed. "This, here...look – the tiniest space in the helix...can't you see it?"

Moira stared at the screen, "No..."

"Yes, look closer..." Hank used the edge of his sharp fingernail to point right to it, "look very hard..."

"Oh my...I see..." she put her hand to her mouth.

"If I hadn't accidentally dropped coffee on the text on the print out, I wouldn't have noticed it either..."

"What is it missing?" Moira sat on the chair next to him, she typed something onto the keyboard. "Lets see...I'll load up the examples of DNA from the clones – we can compare..." she yawned, sighed and took another drink from her cup, this time a much longer drink. "Here we go," she said as the image finally loaded. She used the mouse to take a three dimensional glance at the strand of DNA. "Oh my god...how could I have missed this...there's a third type of DNA here...just one tiny RNA molecule...it's almost indistinguishable from the others..."

"Remy's DNA...the synthetic DNA...and the third type..." Hank muttered, "the third type you didn't account for..." Hank clicked on the section of DNA and magnified it. "I know this...I've seen this before...looked at it several times..."

Moira frowned, "So have I..."

Rogue stood by the large incubator, hands pressed against the hard cool plastic as she stared inside at the love of her life. His long hair was all that was left of him that seemed unchanged; except that there was blood in his hair from a head wound that had apparently manifested after his therapy had gone wrong.

"Oh Remy..." she whispered softly to him. "I should have never let you leave...should have never let them talk you into coming here..." she sobbed. She glanced to the EKG, his heart was beating weakly, the green lines barely moving on the black screen, the beep slow, steady but pathetic.

"I can't help but feel like this is my fault," she murmured to him, although he was deeply unconscious and wouldn't hear her. "If I'd agreed to marry you back in Las Vegas when we went there – you'd have never gone with Psylocke...you'd have never gotten hurt...you'd be fine...we'd be sitting in the mansion right now by the fire, probably laughing about the stupid way you proposed to me that day..." she picked up the print out from the EKG and glanced at it, the print outs showed the decline in his heartbeat. It was getting weaker by the hour. She wasn't sure how to read it, she only understood that the smaller spikes meant a weaker heartbeat.

And then a weak voice startled her, "prolly."

She spun around to stare into the chamber, his head was turned awkwardly towards her, eyes so swollen she knew he couldn't possibly see her. His breath had misted up the plastic ventilator mask.

"Remy..." she placed her hand against the plastic, "You're awake..."

"Mhmm..." he remarked, he groaned then coughed, "where...where you at...can't...see..."

"Your eyes are swollen shut..."

"Yeah..." he hoarsely replied. "Where...are you?"

"I'm here..." she promised, she tried to lighten the sound of her voice, tried to hide the fact she'd been crying even though every word she spoke had a distinct emotional crack in it. "Just outside the plastic walls..."

"Kinda...like bein' on a rollercoaster ride..." he murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Feels like...am moving...up and down...left...right..." he coughed.

_He's on drugs,_ she thought. _They've given him something for the pain and he's out of it..._

"Think...might not be long 'fore I'm..." he sucked in a sharp breath, "long...before I'm not here..."

"Nonsense," she feigned a scoff, she pursed her lips hard and fought back the urge to sob. It was too hard to see him like this, she closed her eyes and inclined her head away.

"T'ink somethin' wen' lil' wrong, non?" his voice was small, and he laughed, but the coughed again, "oh hurts to do 'dat..."

"Don't speak...you need to save your strength..." Rogue swallowed back her emotion.

"No...got to...to say stuff...'cause if I don't...and I go..." he spluttered again, "if I go...you gon' be left with lot of questions...lot of...lot of..." he was silent for a moment, he took a deep breath, his head rolled slightly, "lot of things...need be said..."

"No...nothing needs to be said now, 'cause you're gonna pull _through_. Hank and Moira are in the other room right now working on a cure..."

"Ask...them if they...can maybe...make a cure for stupidity..." he laughed again and winced, "fuck..."

"You're in agony..."

"My own fault...probably..Propre faute, que je suis ici...have to...to confess...Je dois vous dire la vérité."

"Remy...I don't understand you..." Rogue reminded.

"Need...to tell you the truth..."

"I don't want to hear it, Remy..."

"I just...wanted...jus'...jus' to make you happy...'dat's all..."

His voice was so slurred and so muffled by the ventilator mask that she had a hard time working out what he was trying to say to her, she struggled to listen carefully.

"Where's...where's Jessie..." he shifted slightly and reached towards the plastic; his mangled fingers hit the plastic, she placed her fingers on the opposite side.

"She's upstairs...we can't let her in here...she can't see you like this..."

"I look 'dat bad, eh?" he asked.

"Like hamburger meat..." Rogue tried to joke.

"Always did like..." he coughed, "a good barbecue..."

She chewed her lip.

"Got to...explain...bout her..."

"Huh?"

"About Jessie..."

"You don't need to explain, sugar," Rogue swallowed again, "I've had...alot of time to think and I think I understand now...I mean...really understand."

"No...y'don't get it...I need to--"

"Ssh..."

Remy struggled with the words, "No...got to say...'cause...I can't die without tellin'...you bout this...it's...too important..."

"Nothing can be as important as making sure you get _well_ again, Remy."

"Ain't gon' get well now, chere...body...shuttin' down...heard Moira tellin' Sean I maybe got another day..."

"They're wrong. You're going to pull _through."_

_ "_But I if I don't...y'gotta know about Jessie..."

"Remy, I..."

"She's...she's...ma fille...ma fille...my..." his voice faded to silence, and his head dropped to the side, he'd fallen unconscious again, just as quickly as he'd come out of it. She glanced towards the EKG monitor – his heart beat had faded down to a near straight line, then suddenly out of nowhere spiked.

"Remy..." she sobbed, "don't you dare die on me..." she pleaded as alarms started to go off in the room. "Remy!"

The door flew open and Moira rushed in, "Out of the way! He's going into cardiac arrest again!"

Hank followed, he pulled Rogue, "Rogue, I need you to go get Jessie immediately...bring her down to this floor and take her to the lab..."

"But..." Rogue gaped, she gestured to Remy.

"It's going to save him, just do it!"


	6. Chapter 6: Disbelief and Absurdity

Chapter Six - Disbelief and Absurdity

Rogue watched from the chair by the wall in the lab watching Hank with Jessie; she was confused and no one would explain anything to her. The alarms had stopped which could only mean two things – either that Remy LeBeau had finally passed away through the rapid deterioration of his body, or that they'd saved him.

"I wish someone would come and tell me something," Rogue put her hands in her hair frustratedly and sighed.

"He's going to live," said Hank, "we've figured out what went wrong."

Rogue raised her head to him; he hadn't said much since he'd walked in after she'd brought Jessie down. He'd immediately searched the cupboards looking for items, and began to set them out neatly on a sterile tray on the table.

Rogue glanced at the tray, a scalpel, bandage dressings three different jars, a swab, a clear plastic container, a few syringes, surgical gloves and tweezers. She wasn't sure what he intended to do with them.

"What is all this about?" Rogue asked.

Hank paused, "It's going to save Remy."

"Do I have to do something?" Jessie asked timidly, she glanced to the tray and apparently didn't like the look of the items there.

"Yes, dear. You have to sit there and not panic," Hank said softly. "Jessie, you love Remy, right?"

Jessie didn't even have to think about this, she gave a firm nod, although in her eyes, Rogue saw evident fear.

"You'd do _anything_ to save him?"

Again, she nodded, this time more firmly, more confident. "Yes," she said.

"Even if it means a little pain?"

"Pain?" her large grey-blue eyes widened.

"Yes, you see..." Hank smiled softly at the little girl, "I need a little piece of your skin...just a small piece...and that piece of skin is going to save Remy's life...and you want to save him, right?"

"My skin?" Jessie asked unsurely, "can save him?"

"I don't understand," Rogue said, standing up, she moved over, folding her arms. "How can _her_ skin save him."

"It's complicated..." Hank sighed.

"I'm listening..."

"Moira only accounted for two types of DNA in the regeneration – Remy's, from the clone, and a synthetic DNA which has healing properties. However, the synthetic DNA only works with a third type of DNA – one that she _didn't_ account for."

Rogue stared at him, "I still don't understand."

"Jessie has the third type of DNA...the type of DNA..." Hank explained. "One small sample of her skin grafted onto Remy's _will_ replace that missing DNA when he's put into the RGT chamber..."

Rogue didn't understand enough about genetics to know exactly what this meant; but what she did understand is that this _may _possibly save Remy from death and he was so close now that this may be the only one chance.

"Do I have to get cut?" Jessie looked at the scalpel unhappily.

"I swear, cross my heart and hope to die, that you _won't_ feel a thing. I promise. Then I'll bandage you up, and it might hurt just a little after that."

"Are these even the right _tools_?" Rogue asked.

"Usually the skin is shaved off...the best I can find is a scalpel...it'll have to do."

Hank smiled at Jessie, "I thought I might take the skin from your side...because you can hide that. Would that be alright?"

"Where from?" she asked.

Hank made her stretch out on the table, and he pulled down the waistband of her jeans to expose her small hip, "about here?"

"Oh..." Jessie's face went white with the thought, "but it won't hurt?"

"You won't feel a thing except from a sharp prod, okay?"

"Okay..." Jessie nodded.

Rogue sat with the girl and held her hand as Hank went about the procedure. The girl didn't show much signs of pain although she was clearly in distress from the situation. Her eyes teared up and she bit her lip hard.

"It's okay, sugar," Rogue said softly, "it'll all be over soon," she promised.

"And Mr. LeBeau will be okay?" Jessie asked, her breathing slightly irregular.

"Absolutely," Hank chimed in.

Rogue reached over and stroked Jessie's hair timidly, unsure if she would hurt her with her excessive strength. Jessie closed her eyes and lay her cheek upon her folded arms, two tears welling up at the corners of her closed eyes, a whimper escaped her lips. "Just a little bit more..."

"Almost done," said Hank.

Rogue glanced over at Hank, she saw some blood on his gloves and she quickly glanced away, "You're sure this will help him."

"If I'm right, it will reverse everything..."

"How is it Jessie's DNA...can save him? What about mine? What about yours?"

"It has to be hers," Hank said quietly, his face suddenly quite guilty. "Okay, we're done..." Hank placed the clear plastic container aside – Rogue glanced briefly towards it, seeing the square of skin inside and she forced back the urge to be sick seeing it there.

"Lets just patch you up and then Sean will take you upstairs and give you a big breakfast," said Hank cheerily.

Jessie grinned, "french toast?"

"If that's what you'd like," Hank said, he cleaned the newly made wound and placed a dressing over it, "Now, I need to change this dressing every day for a while until it heals...so don't go picking it off. And after every bath you have a new one needs to be put on, okay?"

"Okay," Jessie agreed, she was let down from the table and she pulled her jeans up carefully over the dressing, "kinda stings now..."

"Yes, but it's a small price to pay for a life, isn't it?"

Jessie gave a sure nod.

Sean Cassidy arrived promptly to take Jessie upstairs to get some food.

Rogue stood with Hank in the lab for a few moments; she glanced over at him, he had that guilty look about him again and she couldn't place it. What was it he wasn't saying?

"I need to get this to Moira..." Hank picked up the plastic container with the skin.

"Hank...why Jessie..." Rogue said as Hank approached the door.

"Why is her DNA unique...why did it have to be her...why is everyone so...secretive lately about her...what's so..." she trailed off then said, "special...about her..."

Hank stopped at the door, "you need to speak to Remy."

"He tried to tell me something...but he had a heart-attack halfway through...I don't think his heart can take another attempt at telling me..." Rogue pointed out.

He sighed, "Rogue...some things are better left unsaid until...such a time when better answers can be offered."

"I want to know _now._ I'm sick of secrets...had my fill of them. Remy wanted to tell me about whatever it was about her...so...whether he's the one to tell me or not, it's time I knew..."

"Are you sure you can handle it, Rogue?" Hank asked, "because once things come out...things can't be changed..."

"I don't _know_ what you're talking about. Just spit it out..."

"Rogue..." Hank warned.

"Ma fille...he said that to me...my...something...my girl?" Rogue frowned, "what did he mean...?"

He hesitated, then finally murmured, "fine. Jessie Crowell is somehow...related to Remy..."

"Somehow?" Rogue asked, the word fell from her mouth although she was barely aware of saying it. Instead, her mind was reeling with disbelief and absurdity.

"Rogue...Jessie is Remy's daughter."

The End....Or is it? Dun dun 

(Okay, so I kept my promise, I got another episode up! Haha! Hope you all like it! Look out for another update possibly in the future! Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! It's so interesting to see your opinions (and correct guesses!). Hope you all enjoyed this!)


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